Introduction to National Parks
Why is it important to learn about national parks? National parks are natural environments preserved for the benefit of the people and future generations. National parks are areas with native ecosystems that offer an abundance of recreational and educational opportunities to learn about natural habitats. We highly encourage you to locate national parks in your region and plan field trips with your children following our Study of Major National Parks. Children would be able to observe the interactions between living organisms and develop a deeper appreciation for nature.
In the meantime, we created a complete study on the major national parks in the United States of America. Our set intends to introduce major national parks without providing excessive information such as pictures. The purpose of not including pictures is intentional. Providing pictures may leave a fixed image of a national park. The beauty of a natural habitat is relative to the eye of the observer. One image cannot represent a national park in its entirety. By providing compelling information through 6-part nomenclature cards, we intend to motivate children to research the national parks of their interest.
In this post, we present a possible way to organize a learning experience using our set USA Major National Parks Study Complete Set.
Materials
- USA Major National Parks Study – Complete Set:
- –USA Major National Parks Study Cloth Mute Chart
- –USA Major National Parks Study Cloth Control Chart
- –USA Major National Parks Study Nomenclature Cards (6-9) (Printed)
- –USA Major National Parks Study Task Cards (Printed)
- –USA Major National Parks Study Workbook
Storage solutions: Command Box – Natural Finish (Premium Quality) & Three Part Tray (Premium Quality)
1-Nomenclature Cards & Control Charts
Bottom: Mute Chart
USA Major National Parks Study Nomenclature Cards (6-9) comes with six-part cards, one large informed chart, one large mute chart, and a reproducible booklet with cloze tests. You may want to begin introducing local National Parks in your state or nearby states. Look at the control chart to locate all the National Parks to be first introduced, and select the corresponding Nomenclature Cards to be introduced in a vertical manner on a working mat. Invite children to match pictures and labels and read the descriptions aloud. The descriptions contains the name of the National Park, where it is located, when it was established, and how many square miles it covers.
This information can be reported in the reproducible booklet (USA Major National Parks Study Workbook). Ask a child to find the National Park mentioned on the informed chart.
Following a first introduction to some National Parks, encourage your learners to research some of the states and National Parks studied. Ask them to write a mini-report on one of the National Parks that includes pictures. This small project can be part of a major project like creating a collection of mini-reports that could be bind into a book. Children can also complete parts of the reproducible booklet we provide with the Nomenclature Cards set.
2-Working with the Cloth Charts
Now that children are familiar with more National Parks, they will enjoy self-assessing their knowledge of each National Parks location using our extra large USA Major National Parks Study Cloth Control Chart. Using small labels, they can practice placing each National Parks Cloth Mute Chart (see pictures below).
3-Working with the Task Cards
Later, with more experience, you may want to encourage your learners to work in small groups by using the USA Major National Parks Study Task Cards. There are 53 National Parks represented in the Task Cards. The first set contains 53 cards challenging children to “identify the national parks shown in the image” provided on the card. The answer is on the back of each card. The second set contains 53 cards challenging children to name the state in which a given national park. A written answer is provided on the back of all the cards. This work is fun as a small group, but can also promote independent learning!
USA Major National Parks Study – Complete Set is an exclusive study created by our Design Team! It intends to augment children’s awareness and appreciation of the natural resources available nationally. This experience supports research skills development, comparative studies, the study of biomes, interconnectivity between living organisms, and physical geography.
For more Montessori exclusive materials, visit our website at www.alisonsmontessori.com.
